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Abstract China faces challenges in reaching its carbon neutrality goal by the year 2060 to meet the Paris Agreement and improving air quality simultaneously. Dramatic nitrogen emission reductions will be brought by this ambitious target, yet their impact on the natural ecosystem is not clear. Here, by combining two atmospheric chemistry models and two process-based terrestrial ecosystem models constrained using nationwide measurements, we show that atmospheric nitrogen deposition in China’s terrestrial land will decrease by 44–57% following two emission control scenarios including one aiming at carbon neutrality. They consequently result in a pronounced shrinkage in terrestrial net ecosystem production, by 11–20% depending on models and emission scenarios. Our results indicate that the nitrogen emission reductions accompanying decarbonization would undermine natural carbon sinks and in turn set back progress toward carbon neutrality. This unintended impact calls for great concern about the trade-offs between nitrogen management and carbon neutrality.

Abstract The hydroxyl radical (OH), as the central atmospheric oxidant, controls the removal rates of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. It is being suggested that OH levels would decrease with reductions of nitrogen oxides and ozone levels by climate polices, but this remains unsettled. Here, we show that driven by the carbon neutrality pledge, the global-mean OH concentration, derived from multiple chemistry-climate model simulations, is projected to be significantly increasing with a trend of 0.071‒0.16% per year during 2015–2100. The leading cause of this OH enhancement is dramatic decreases in carbon monoxide and methane concentrations, which together reduce OH sinks. The OH increase shortens methane’s lifetime by 0.19‒1.1 years across models and subsequently diminishes methane’s radiative forcing. If following a largely unmitigated scenario, the global OH exhibits a significant decrease that would exacerbate methane’s radiative forcing. Thus, we highlight that targeted emission abatement strategies for sustained oxidation capacity can benefit climate change mitigation in the Anthropocene.

Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that an antioxidant diet is a protective factor against depression. However, the association between niacin, an important antioxidant consumed from the diet, and depression has received little attention. Therefore, we explored the association between niacin intake and depression through a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007 to 2016. Methods Depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, score ≥ 10). Niacin intake was assessed through 24-h dietary recall interviews. The relationship of niacin intake with depression among adults in US was assessed by using a weighted multiple logistic regression model with subgroup analysis. Non-linear associations were explored using restricted cubic spline models. And we used a two-piece-wise logistic regression model with smoothing to explore the threshold for association between them. Results A total of 16,098 adults were included in this study. Compared with individuals with lowest niacin intake Q1 (≤ 15.96 mg/day), the adjusted OR values for dietary niacin intake and depression in Q2 (15.97–22.86 mg/day), Q3 (22.87–32.28 mg/day) and Q4 (≥ 32.29 mg/day), were 0.92 (95% CI: 0.70–1.20), 0.76 (95% CI: 0.56–0.99,) and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.48–0.98), respectively. The results were not modified by sex, by age and by BMI. Furthermore, the relationship between dietary niacin intake and depression exhibited a U-shaped curve (nonlinear, p

Recent vigorous controls in anthropogenic nitrogen oxide emissions in China cannot result in proportionate decreases in regional atmospheric nitrogen deposition. Enhanced atmospheric oxidizing capacity offsets those reductions of precursor emissions.

BackgroundIt has been shown in previous studies that botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) can effectively relieve the motor symptoms of Meige syndrome. However, its effect on non-motor symptoms (NMS) and quality of life (QoL) has not been comprehensively studied. This study aimed to explore the effects of BTX-A on NMS and QoL and to clarify the relationship between changes in motor symptoms, NMS, and QoL after BTX-A.MethodsSeventy-five patients were recruited for the study. All patients were assessed by a series of clinical assessments before, one, and 3 months after BTX-A treatment. Dystonic symptoms, psychiatric disturbances, sleep disorders, and QoL were evaluated.ResultsAfter 1 and 3 months of BTX-A treatment, the scores of motor symptoms, anxiety, and depression were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Except for general health, the scores of the other 36-item short-form health survey QoL subitems were significantly improved after BTX-A (P < 0.05). After 1 month of treatment, the changes in anxiety and depression were not correlated with changes in motor symptoms (P > 0.05). Still, they were negatively correlated with changes in physical functioning, role-physical and mental component summary QoL (P < 0.05).ConclusionsBTX-A effectively improved motor symptoms, anxiety, depression, and QoL. Anxiety and depression improvement did not correlate with motor symptom changes after BTX-A, and QoL improvements were strongly associated with psychiatric disturbances.

Abstract The atmospheric deposition of soluble (bioaccessible) iron enhances ocean primary productivity and subsequent atmospheric CO2 sequestration in iron-limited ocean basins, especially the Southern Ocean. While anthropogenic sources have been recently suggested to be important in some northern hemisphere oceans, the role in the Southern Ocean remains ambiguous. By comparing multiple model simulations with the new aircraft observations for anthropogenic iron, we show that anthropogenic soluble iron deposition flux to the Southern Ocean could be underestimated by more than a factor of ten in previous modeling estimates. Our improved estimate for the anthropogenic iron budget enhances its contribution on the soluble iron deposition in the Southern Ocean from about 10% to 60%, implying a dominant role of anthropogenic sources. We predict that anthropogenic soluble iron deposition in the Southern Ocean is reduced substantially (30‒90%) by the year 2100, and plays a major role in the future evolution of atmospheric soluble iron inputs to the Southern Ocean.

In order to increase agglomeration production and improve its quality while reducing energy consumption, a new intelligent blending method has been established at Ansteel to optimize its sinter blends. The statistical model of the ore blending results shows that (1) a blending ratio of 47.2% Ore A and 52.8% Ore C corresponded to the best sinter yield of 72.44%. (2) From the viewpoint of sinter reducibility, sinter basicity should not be less than 1.98 when the proportion of Ore A in the blend is more than 35%. Due to the low mixing efficiency of disc pelletizers, Ansteel has therefore gone through a massive technical transformation at Sinter Plant 3 to replace its 16 existing disc pelletizers with one drum granulator. Since the installation of the drum granulator, the standard deviation has decreased from 1.517 to 0.7332 for total Fe (T.Fe) and from 0.146 to 0.0956 for basicity. In the case of the drum granulator, the standard deviation for sinter T.Fe and basicity were 0.6926 and 0.05449, respectively, as compared to 0.8902 and 0.2033 for the disc pelletizers. In addition, a single lattice method is proposed to optimize the particle-size distribution of the coke breeze to further improve sinter quality and reduce fuel consumption. The lattice method indicated that the optimum coke breeze to achieve maximum sinter tumble strength should consist of approximately 57.20%: −1 mm, 25.63%: 1–3 mm, 11.17%: 3–5 mm, and 6.00%: >5 mm particles. Given the international trend of increasing bed depth, Ansteel has successfully achieved a bed height of 1050 mm or more under its blend conditions, which typically contain 75% concentrates. Finally, some new iron ore agglomerations research is discussed.

Temperature inversions inhibit the transfer of momentum, heat and moisture in the atmosphere and have led to severe air pollution in China. This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation in temperature inversions in China using sounding data for the past four decades. Surface-based inversion, elevated inversion, and both in one sounding dataset were analysed. Statistical analyses of inversion parameters included frequency, strength and depth. The annual frequency of total inversions showed no significant increasing or decreasing trend with mean values of 0.78, 0.33, 0.24, 0.28, 0.5 and 0.36 at six stations representing different climate zones—Beijing, Harbin, Haikou, Shaowu, Ruoqiang, and Xining, respectively. The annual inversion strength and depth showed downward trends. Monthly variation in inversion frequency and strength differed among stations. The weakest surface-based inversion was found in summer at Beijing and Harbin with mean values of 1 and 1.3 °C, respectively; the strongest surface-based inversion was found in winter with respective mean values of 3.5 and 3.6 °C. Higher surface temperature in summer and subsidence aloft in winter may explain the monthly variation in inversion depth with a minimum in summer, with mean values of 165, 334, 135, 267, 363 and 420 m, and a maximum in winter, with mean values of 250, 646, 140, 591, 806 and 664 m, at the six respective stations. Total inversion was least frequent in southwestern China (mean 0.15), surface-based inversion was most frequent in the north (mean 0.78), and elevated inversion was most frequent in the southeast (mean 0.42). The strongest, deepest surface-based inversion dominated in the north (mean 3.4 °C and 398 m). Elevated inversion strength did not significantly differ among regions (mean 2.5 °C). The deepest elevated inversion dominated in the southeast (mean 654 m). Future efforts should focus on the interactions between aerosols and temperature inversions and accurate model simulations of temperature inversions.

Background: The differentiation of microglia from M1 to M2 exerts a pivotal role in the aggression of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are associated with the differentiation of microglia. However, the underlying mechanism had not been fully clarified.Methods: The expression profile of lncRNAs in thrombin-induced primary microglia was analyzed by RNA sequencing. Under thrombin treatment, the effect of lncRNA TCONS_00145741 on the differentiation of microglia was determined by immunofluorescence staining, quantitative real-time PCR, and Western blot. The potential mechanism and related signaling pathways of TCONS_00145741 in the M1 and M2 differentiation of microglia in ICH were assessed by Gene Ontology analysis, flow cytometry, RNA pull-down, RNA Immunoprecipitation, and RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization followed by immunofluorescence analysis.Results: LncRNA TCONS_00145741 expression was elevated in the thrombin-induced primary microglia, and the interference with TCONS_00145741 restrained the M1 differentiation of microglia and facilitated the M2 differentiation under thrombin treatment. The interference with TCONS_00145741 restrained the activation of the JNK pathway in microglia under thrombin treatment and repressed the JNK phosphorylation levels by enhancing the interaction between DUSP6 and JNK. In vivo experiments further illustrated that the interference with TCONS_00145741 alleviated ICH.Conclusion: LncRNA TCONS_00145741 knockdown prevented thrombin-induced M1 differentiation of microglia in ICH by enhancing the interaction between DUSP6 and JNK. This study might provide a promising target for the clinical treatment of ICH.

Delineation of agricultural fields is desirable for operational monitoring of agricultural production and is essential to support food security. Due to large within-class variance of pixel values and small inter-class difference, automated field delineation remains to be a challenging task. In this study, a strategy is proposed to effectively address this issue. Firstly, a framework was developed using the Canny operator connected with the Watershed segmentation algorithm (CW) to quickly label the training dataset, which minimizes the workload of dataset generation in comparison with the commonly used manual vectorization. Secondly, a CW-trained deep semantic segmentation network, recurrent residual U-Net, was selected to mine the low level and deep semantic features. Finally, a boundary connecting method (to integrate fragmented boundaries) was used to generate the agricultural field boundary. The proposed methods are tested over smallholder agricultural landscape in Heilongjiang province, China, using Sentinel-2 imagery. Compared with the U-Net (overall accuracy (OA) 82.18%), the residual U-Net (ResU-Net, with OA 85.78%), traditional object-based image analysis (OBIA, with OA about 82%), and the existing 10-m resolution global land cover map (FROM-GLC10), the proposed method shows an improved performance (OA 89.28%, and Kappa 0.85). The successful application of the proposed method suggests that the recurrent residual U-Net model has great universality in agricultural field boundary extraction, and the automated technique has the potential of being applied to other regions.

Timely and accurate mapping crops is essential for agricultural management, policy making and food security. The smallholder agricultural systems lead to large number of fragmented and heterogeneous landscape, making fine crop mapping a huge challenge. Feature and classifier selection are two important influencing factors in crop classification. However, there are few systematic tests to determine the specific features and classifiers needed for heterogeneous agricultural landscapes. In this study, 24 candidate spectral features, 8 spatial texture features from the red-edge (RE) and near-infrared (NIR) bands, and 4 supervised classifiers (i.e. random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN), and maximum likelihood classifier (MLC)) were used for crop mapping. 60 spatially heterogeneous landscapes in Heilongjiang Province, northeastern China were selected as the study areas, evaluated by compositional heterogeneity (homogeneity index, HOI) and configurational heterogeneity (splitting index, SPLIT). The results summarized a look-up table for searching the optimum classification features and classifiers in different landscape, providing a reference for future crop classifications and preventing the consumption of computing time. The results revealed that (1) an optimal feature-subset (with reduced data volume by 65%) can achieve high-accuracy crop mapping in heterogeneous regions. (2) The optimum type and number of features and classifiers are landscape sensitive. When a specific accuracy was required, homogenous regions need a smaller number of features and a simple MLC could meet the requirement. (3) The impact of configurational heterogeneity on textural features is more significant, while compositional heterogeneity performs better on spectral Vegetation Indices (VIs). Findings from this study provide a general guideline for crop mapping in plains or fragmented landscape and areas with single or complex planting structure.

East and South Asia are major hotspots of crop straw burning worldwide, with profound impacts on air quality and climate change. The Northeast China Plain (NECP) and Punjab, India, are two of the most fertile areas for crop production, which have large-scale agricultural fires during post-harvest seasons. Leveraging established fire-emission databases and satellite-retrieved agricultural fire spots, we show that, while the years 2018 and 2019 recorded low agricultural fire emissions in both the NECP and Punjab, probably due to the implementation of crop straw sustainable management, fire emissions markedly rebounded in 2020, reaching about 190% and 150% of 2019 levels, respectively. The COVID-19 lockdown measures somewhat disrupted eco-friendly crop straw management through restrictions on labor and transportation availability, such that farmers may have had to burn off crop wastes to clear up the land. We further demonstrate that the increased fire emissions in the NECP resulted in serious particulate matter pollution during the fire season in spring 2020, as opposed to considerable decreases in particles from fossil fuel emissions caused by the COVID-19 lockdown. This study suggests the unintended impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agricultural sector and human health.

The decadal variations in emissions of high-reactivity biogenic volatile organics (BVOCs), as a result of land-cover changes, could significantly impact ozone (O3) production. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry (WRF/Chem) modelling system, coupled with dynamic vegetation data sets derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS, 2001–2012) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR, early 1990s) measurements, were used to investigate the impacts of land-cover changes on natural emissions, and consequently O3 production, in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of southern China over the past two decades. Model results indicate that BVOC emissions were highly dependent on forest area. The total BVOC emissions in the modelling domain increased by a factor of two due to afforestation since the early 1990s, declined slowly (−5.8% yr−1) until 2006 and then increased continuously (+9.1% yr−1) to 2012. The decadal variations in BVOC emissions have complex implications for summer O3 production in PRD, depending on the chemical regimes and prevailing winds. The impacts on O3 production were most sensitive in downwind areas, and it was found that the large increase in BVOC emissions during 2006–2012 tended to reduce surface O3 concentrations by 1.6–2.5 ppb in rural regions, but caused an increment of O3 peaks by up to 2.0–6.0 ppb in VOC-limited urban areas (e.g., Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhongshan). The opposite was true in the period 2001–2006, when the reduced BVOC emissions resulted in 1.3–4.0 ppb increases in daytime O3 concentrations over northern rural regions. Impact of the two-fold increase in BVOC emissions since the early 1990s to 2006 was a 0.9–4.6 ppb increment in surface O3 concentrations over the downwind areas. This study suggests that the potential impacts on ozone chemistry should be considered in long-term land-use planning and air-quality management.

Unveiling complex dynamics of natural systems from a multivariate time series represents a research hotspot in a broad variety of areas. We develop a novel multilayer network analysis framework, i.e. multivariate time-frequency multilayer network (MTFM network), to peer into the complex system dynamics. Through mapping the system features into different frequency-based layers and inferring interactions (edges) among different channels (nodes), the MTFM network allows efficiently integrating time, frequency and spatial information hidden in a multivariate time series. We employ two dynamic systems to illustrate the effectiveness of the MTFM network. We first apply the MTFM network to analyze the 48-channel measurements from industrial oil–water flows and reveal the complex dynamics ruling the transition of different flow patterns. The MTFM network is then utilized to analyze 30-channel fatigue driving electroencephalogram signals. The results demonstrate that MTFM network enables to quantitatively characterize brain behavior associated with fatigue driving. Our MTFM network enriches the multivariate time series analysis theory and helps to better understand the complicated dynamical behaviors underlying complex systems.

The sulfur cycle plays a key role in atmospheric air quality, climate, and ecosystems. In this study, we compare the spatial and temporal distribution of four sulfur-containing species, dimethyl sulfide (DMS), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate methanesulfonate (MSA), and particulate sulfate (SO4), that were measured during the airborne NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission and simulated by five AeroCom-III models to analyze the budget of sulfur cycle from the models. This study focuses on remote regions over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans from near the ocean surface to ~12-km altitude range, and covers all four seasons. These regions provide us with highly heterogeneous natural and anthropogenic source environments, which is not usually the case for traditional continental studies. We examine the vertical and seasonal variations of these sulfur species over tropical, mid-, and high-latitude regions in both hemispheres. We identify their origins from land versus ocean and from anthropogenic versus natural sources with sensitivity studies by applying tagged tracers linking to emission types and regions. In general, the differences among model results can be greater than one-order of magnitude. Comparing with observations, simulated SO2 is generally low while SO4 is high, and the model-observation agreement is much better in ATom-4 (April-May, 2018). There are much larger DMS concentrations simulated close to the sea surface than observed, indicating that the DMS emissions may be too high from all models. Anthropogenic emissions are the dominant source (40-60% of the total amount) for atmospheric sulfate simulated at locations and times along the ATom flight tracks at almost every altitude, followed by volcanic emissions (18-32%) and oceanic sources (16-32%). Similar source contributions can also be derived at broad ocean basin and monthly scales, indicating that any reductions of anthropogenic sulfur emissions would have global impacts in modern times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric transport of iron (Fe) in fine anthropogenic aerosol particles is an important route of soluble Fe supply to remote oceans from continental areas. To investigate Fe properties of aerosol particles over remote oceans, we analyzed atmospheric aerosol particles over the Indian Ocean during the research vessel Hakuho Maru KH-18-6 cruise. Aerosol particles collected using a cascade impactor were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry analyzer. The particle shape and composition on the sample stage of 0.3-0.8 µm aerodynamic diameter indicated that most particles collected north of the equator were composed mainly of ammonium sulfate. Regarding the particle number fraction, 0.6-3.0% of particles contained Fe, which mostly co-existed with sulfate. Of those particles, Fe was found 26% as metal spheres, often co-existing with Al or Si, regarded as fly ash, 14% as mineral dust, and 7% as iron oxide aggregations. Water-dialysis analyses of TEM samples indicated that Fe in spherical fly ash was almost entirely insoluble, whereas Fe in the other morphological-typed particles was partly (65% Fe mass on average) soluble. Global model simulations mostly reproduce observed Fe mass concentrations in PM2.5 collected using a high-volume air sampler, including their north-south contrast during the cruise. In contrast, a marked difference was found between the simulated mass fractions of Fe mineral sources and the observed Fe types. For example, the model underestimated anthropogenic aluminosilicate Fe contained in matter such as fly ash from coal combustion. Our observations suggest that Fe in particles over remote ocean areas has multiple shapes and minerals, and further suggest that its solubility after aging processes differs depending on their morphological and mineral type. Proper consideration of such Fe types at their sources is necessary for accurate estimation of atmospheric Fe effects on marine biological activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black carbon (BC) aerosol particles in the Arctic heat the atmosphere and snow/ice surfaces and may strengthen the snow-albedo feedback that amplifies Arctic warming. Model simulations of BC concentrations in the Arctic depend strongly on the representation of microphysical processes such as aging, activation, and wet removal. Most BC modeling studies have classified BC particles into hydrophobic BC, which cannot form cloud droplets, and hydrophilic BC, which can form cloud droplets, by assuming a globally constant critical supersaturation threshold value (Sthre), without considering its consistency with cloud maximum supersaturation (Smax). Here we show that it is essential to consider the consistency of Sthre with Smax in global model simulations to reduce uncertainties in near-surface ambientBCconcentrations in the Arctic. Previous studies often obtained good agreement between simulated and observed near-surface Arctic BC mass concentrations when a low Sthre (;0.1%) was assumed in their models. However, this Sthre may be too low (activation and wet removal of BCmay be underestimated) for the Arctic, because some recent observations and our model simulations suggest that Smax may actually be higher (;0.3%) there. We also demonstrate that spatially varying Sthre values and their consistency with Smax, which previous studies did not consider, must be represented in models for more accurate estimation of BC budget in the Arctic. Because both Smax and BC-aging speed depend on climatic conditions, our findings are an important step toward better simulations of BC impacts on past, present, and future Arctic climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite observations show a global maximum in ammonia (NH3) over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), with a peak from June to August. However, it has never been explained explicitly. In this study, we investigated the causes of high NH3 loading over the IGP during the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons using WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled to chemistry). The IGP has relatively high NH3 emission fluxes (0.4 t km -2 month -1) due to intensive agricultural activities and high air temperature from June to August. Additionally, low sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions and high air temperature limit the gas-to-particle conversion of NH3 , particularly for ammonium nitrate formation. Moreover, the barrier effects of the Himalayas in combination with the surface convergence weaken the horizontal diffusion of NH3. The high NH3 loading over the IGP mainly results from the low gas-to-particle partitioning of NH3 caused by low SO2 and NOx emissions. It contrasts to those in the North China Plain, where high SO2 and NOx emissions promote the conversion of gaseous NH3 into particulate ammonium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic emissions in China play an important role in altering global radiation budget. Over the recent decade, the clean-air options in China result in substantial reductions in anthropogenic emissions, especially sulfur dioxide (SO2), and improved air quality. However, the associated changes in aerosol climate effects are poorly understood. In this study, we use an advanced global climate model integrated with latest anthropogenic emission inventory to estimate the changes in the aerosol radiative forcings by the emission variation in China between 2008 and 2016. First, our simulations exhibit decreases of 46 % and 25 % for the annual mean surface-level sulfate and black carbon (BC) mass concentrations in East China, respectively, which is the key region subject to stringent emission control options. The decreasing tendency of aerosol optical depth and aerosol absorption optical depth retrieved by satellites is also captured by the model for the period. We find that the resultant net radiative forcing by the changes in the BC and SO2 emissions is \-0.04 W m\-2 in East China. The substantial reductions in SO2 emissions diminish the scattering effects of sulfate and lead to an overall change of +0.17 W m\-2 for the annual mean all-sky shortwave aerosol direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere and +0.13 W m\-2 for aerosol-induced cloud radiative forcing. In the meantime, the reduction in BC emissions induces a negative BC radiative forcing of \-0.34 W m\-2. By accounting for the joint effect of BC and SO2 emissions, our results demonstrate that the positive radiative forcing by the SO2 emission reductions is counteracted by the decrease of BC in China over the recent decade. While the local radiative forcing is small due to the counteracted effects of SO2 and BC emissions, it is relatively larger (+0.16 W m\-2) over the north Pacific remote regions for this period, primarily contributed by the reductions in sulfate particles and their effects on cloud properties. With a comprehensive future emission scenario for 2030 and 2050 developed by the recent study, we predict that the strictest environmental policies will induce the change of aerosol radiative forcings of +0.55 and +1.23 W m\-2 over East China between 2016-2030 and 2016-2050, respectively. Targeted emission control policies are desirable to improve air quality and mitigate climate change in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is one of the largest agricultural countries in the world. The NH3 emissions from agricultural activities in China significantly affect regional air quality and horizontal visibility. To reliably estimate the influence of NH3 on agriculture, a high-resolution agricultural NH3 emissions inventory, compiled with a 1 km x 1 km horizontal resolution, was applied to calculate the NH3 mass burden in China. The key emission factors of this inventory were enhanced by considering the results of many native experiments, and the activity data of spatial and temporal information were updated using statistical data from 2015. Fertilizer and husbandry, as well as farmland ecosystems, livestock waste, crop residue burning, fuel wood combustion, and other NH3 emission sources were included in the inventory. Furthermore, a source apportionment tool, ISAM (Integrated Source Apportionment Method), coupled with the air quality modeling system RAMS-CMAQ (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System and Community Multiscale Air Quality), was applied to capture the contribution of NH3 emitted from total agriculture (Tagr) in China. The aerosol mass concentration in 2015 was simulated, and the results showed that a high mass concentration of NH3, which exceeded 10 µg m-3, appeared mainly in the North China Plain (NCP), Central China (CNC), the Yangtz River Delta (YRD), and the Sichan Basin (SCB), and the annual average contribution of Tagr NH3 to PM2.5 mass burden in China was 14-18 %. Specific to the PM2.5 components, Tagr NH3 provided a major contribution to ammonium formation (87.6 %) but a tiny contribution to sulfate (2.2 %). In addition, several brute-force sensitivity tests were conducted to estimate the impact of Tagr NH3 emissions reduction on the PM2.5 mass burden. Compared with the results of ISAM, it was found that even though the Tagr NH3 only contributed 10.1 % of nitrate under current emissions scenarios, the reduction of nitrate could reach 98.8 % upon removal of the Tagr NH3 emissions. The main reason for this deviation could be that the NH3 contribution to nitrate is small under "rich NH3" conditions and large in "poor NH3" environments. Thus, the influence of NH3 on nitrate formation could be enhanced with the decrease of ambient NH3 mass concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emitted by terrestrial vegetation significantly influence the atmospheric chemistry and global climate. Previous studies calculated BVOC emissions outside the comprehensive terrestrial ecosystem processes and oversimplified the representation of canopy environments which exert substantial impacts on BVOC emissions. The sophisticated land surface model CLM (Community Land Model) reproduces essential ground and canopy characteristics and can calculate BVOC emissions as a step of integrated biogeochemical processes. In this study, the land surface scheme CLM version4 (CLM4) of WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting model) was used to estimate BVOC emissions in China. Based on highly-resolved meteorological outputs derived from WRF, CLM4 computed real-time physical and biological variables to drive MEGAN (Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature), a BVOC estimation algorithm embedded within biogeochemistry component of CLM4, to calculate plant emission flux. MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) land-use data with high resolutions was introduced in WRF to replace the outdated land surface parameters. An emission inventory of isoprene and monoterpenes (including α-pinene, β-pinene, 3-carene, t-β- ocimene, limonene, sabinene and myrcene) with high spatiotemporal resolution (12 x 12 km, hourly) was established for the year 2018. The annual BVOC emission in China was 14.7 Tg C, in which isoprene contributes about 78.3 % (11.5 Tg C), followed by α-pinene (1.2 Tg C) and β-pinene (0.7 Tg C). Due to the strong emission capacity and large areas, broadleaf forests contribute to 76.8 % of total isoprene emission and 72.1 % of monoterpenes emission, respectively. BVOC emissions showed marked seasonal and diurnal patterns with the peak emission occurring in summer and midday. Spatially, high emissions of BVOC were mainly concentrated in southern and northeastern China, as well as the Qinling Mountains in central China, accounting for 91.4 % of national emission. Guangxi, Yunnan and Hunan provinces are significant emitters due to large area of vegetation with high emission rate and favored environmental conditions. The emission estimates are compared to past modeling results, field measurements and further evaluated against top-down isoprene emission estimates. Generally, the coupled mode produced a reasonable simulation in both emission amounts and the spatiotemporal distribution of BVOCs. The WRF--CLM--MEGAN coupling framework could be further integrated with atmospheric chemistry model to investigate BVOC chemistry and their effects on regional pollution and climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite observations show a global maximum in ammonia (NH3) over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), with a peak in summer. However, it has never been explained explicitly. In this study, we investigated the causes of high NH3 loading over the IGP in summer using WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled to chemistry). IGP has relatively high NH3 emission fluxes (0.4 t km−2 month−1) due to intensive agricultural activities and high air temperature in summer. Additionally, low sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions and high air temperature limit the gas-to-particle conversion of NH3, particularly for ammonium nitrate formation. Moreover, the barrier effects of the Himalayas in combination with the surface convergence weaken the horizontal diffusion of NH3. The high NH3 loading over the IGP mainly results from the low gas-to-particle partitioning of NH3 caused by low SO2 and NOx emissions. It contrasts to those in the North China Plain, where high SO2 and NOx emissions promote the conversion of gaseous NH3 into particulate ammonium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been experiencing fine particle (i.e., aerodynamic diameters ≤ 2.5 μm; PM2.5) pollution and acid rain in recent decades, which exert adverse impacts on human health and the ecosystem. Recently, ammonia (i.e., NH3) emission reduction has been proposed as a strategic option to mitigate haze pollution. However, atmospheric NH3 is also closely bound to nitrogen deposition and acid rain, and comprehensive impacts of NH3 emission control are still poorly understood in China. In this study, by integrating a chemical transport model with a high-resolution NH3 emission inventory, we find that NH3 emission abatement can mitigate PM2.5 pollution and nitrogen deposition but would worsen acid rain in China. Quantitatively, a 50% reduction in NH3 emissions achievable by improving agricultural management, along with a targeted emission reduction (15%) for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, can alleviate PM2.5 pollution by 11-17% primarily by suppressing ammonium nitrate formation. Meanwhile, nitrogen deposition is estimated to decrease by 34%, with the area exceeding the critical load shrinking from 17% to 9% of China's terrestrial land. Nevertheless, this NH3 reduction would significantly aggravate precipitation acidification, with a decrease of as much as 1.0 unit in rainfall pH and a corresponding substantial increase in areas with heavy acid rain. An economic evaluation demonstrates that the worsened acid rain would partly offset the total economic benefit from improved air quality and less nitrogen deposition. After considering the costs of abatement options, we propose a region-specific strategy for multipollutant controls that will benefit human and ecosystem health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission controls have been implemented for several years in northern China, recent observations show particulate nitrate (NO3-) is becoming increasingly important during haze episodes. In this study, we find that particulate NO3- formation would easily become NH3-limited under severe haze conditions, enhancing its sensitivity to NH3 emission controls. Furthermore, improved manure management of livestock husbandry could reduce 40 % of NH3 emissions (currently 100 kiloton per a month) in winter of northern China. Under this emission reductions scenario, simulations from the thermodynamic equilibrium model (ISORROPIA-II) and the Weather Research and Forecast model coupled chemistry (WRF-Chem) all show that particulate NO3- could be reduced by approximately 40 % during a typical severe haze episode (averagely from 40.8 to 25.7 μg/m³). Our results indicate that reducing livestock NH3 emissions would be highly effective to reduce particulate NO3- during severe winter haze events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North China Plain has been identified as a significant hotspot of ammonia (NH3) due to extensive agricultural activities. Satellite observations suggest a significant increase of about 30 % in tropospheric gas-phase NH3 concentrations in this area during 2008-2016. However, the estimated NH3 emissions decreased slightly because of changes in Chinese agricultural practices, i.e., the transition in fertilizer types from ammonium carbonate fertilizer to urea, and in the livestock rearing system from free-range to intensive farming. We note that the emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) have rapidly declined by 60 % over recent few years. By integrating in situ measurement datasets, multi-year NH3 emission inventories, and chemical transport model simulations, we demonstrate that the increases in NH3 can be almost entirely attributable to this rapid SO2 emission reduction. The annual average sulfate concentrations decreased by about 50 %, which significantly weakened the formation of ammonium sulfate and increased the average proportions of gas phase NH3 within the total NH3 column concentrations from 26 % (2008) to 37 % (2016). Both the decreases in sulfate and increases in NH3 concentrations show highest values in summer, possibly because the formation of sulfate aerosols is more sensitive to SO2 emission reductions in summer than in other seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East China experiences extensive crop residue burnings in fields during harvest season. The direct radiative effect (DRE) of carbonaceous aerosols from crop residue burning in June 2013 in East China was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). Absorption of organic aerosol (OA) in the presence of brown carbon was considered using the parameterization of Saleh et al. (2014), in which the imaginary part of the OA refractive index is a function of wavelength and the ratio of black carbon (BC) and OA. The carbonaceous emissions from crop fires were estimated using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire radiative power (FRP) product with a localized crop-burning-sourced BC-to-organic carbon (OC) ratio emission ratio of 0.27. Evaluation of the model results with in situ measurements of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2:5) chemical composition, MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) detections and meteorological observations showed that this model was able to reproduce the magnitude, spatial variation and optical characteristics of carbonaceous aerosol pollution. The observed BC and OC peak concentrations at the site in Suixi, Anhui province, during the 2013 wheat burning season reached 55.3 μgm-3 and 157.9 μgm-3. WRF-Chem simulations reproduced these trends with a correlation coefficient of 0.74, estimating that crop residue burning contributed 86 and 90% of peak BC and OC, respectively. The simulated hourly DRE from crop residue burning at the top of atmosphere (TOA) reached a maximum of +22.66Wm-2 at the Suixi site. On average, the simulations showed that the crop residue burning introduced a net positive DRE of +0.14Wm-2 at TOA throughout East China, with BC from this source as the main heating contributor (+0.79Wm-2). The OA DRE from crop burning (-0.22Wm-2) was a combined effect of the positive DRE of absorption (+0.21Wm-2) and a stronger negative DRE of scattering (-0.43Wm-2). Sensitivity tests showed that the DRE of OA absorption strongly depended on the imaginary part of the OA refractive index, the BC-to-OA emission ratio from crop residue burning and the assumed mixing state of the aerosol, whereby the volume mixing treatment resulted in a higher positive DRE compared to the core-shell treatment. The BC mixing state and associated absorption enhancement during BC aging processes will be investigated in detail in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East China experiences extensive crop residue burning in fields during harvest seasons. The direct radiative effect (DRE) of carbonaceous aerosols from crop residue burning in June 2013 in East China was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). Absorption of organic aerosol (OA) in the presence of brown carbon (BrC) was considered using the parameterization of Saleh et al. (2014), in which the imaginary part of BrC refractive index was a function of the ratio of the black carbon (BC) and OA and wavelengths. The carbonaceous emissions from crop fires were estimated using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire radiative power products with a localized crop burning-sourced BC-to-organic carbon (OC) ratio emission ratio of 0.27. The simulation results were evaluated with in situ measurements of fine particle (PM2.5) chemical components and meteorological observations. The aerosol optical depths were comparable with MODIS detections. The BC and OC peak concentrations reached 34.3 µg m-3 and 121.1 µg m-3, of which the crop residue burning contributed 86 % and 90 %, respectively. Correspondingly, the DREs of crop residue burning-sourced BC and BrC (due to absorption) reached +20.16 W m-2 and +7.17 W m-2, respectively. On average, during the harvest season, crop residue burning introduced a DRE of +0.39 W m-2 throughout East China. We found that BrC absorption and BC introduced significant positive DREs, +0.85 W m-2 and +1.05 W m-2, respectively. The BrC DRE due to scattering was stronger (-1.1 W m-2) than its DRE due to absorption. The sensitivity test showed that the BrC DRE strongly depended on the absorptivity and BC-to-OA ratio emission ratio from crop residue burning, and the volume mixing treatment could result in a higher positive DRE compared to the core/shell treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia (NH3) can interact in the atmosphere with other trace chemical species, which can lead to detrimental environmental consequences, such as the formation of fine particulates and ultimately global climate change. China is a major agricultural country, and livestock numbers and nitrogen fertilizer use have increased drastically since 1978, following the rapid economic and industrial development experienced by the country. In this study, comprehensive NH3 emissions inventories were compiled for China for 1980-2012. In a previous study, we parameterized emissions factors (EFs) considering ambient temperature, soil acidity, and the method and rate of fertilizer application. In this study, we refined these EFs by adding the effects of wind speed and new data from field experiments of NH3 flux in cropland in northern China. We found that total NH3 emissions in China increased from 5.9 to 11.1 Tg from 1980 to 1996, and then decreased to 9.7 Tg in 2012. The two major contributors were livestock manure and synthetic fertilizer application, which contributed 80-90% of the total emissions. Emissions from livestock manure rose from 2.86 Tg (1980) to 6.16 Tg (2005), and then decreased to 5.0 Tg (2012); beef cattle were the largest source followed by laying hens and pigs. The remarkable downward trend in livestock emissions that occurred in 2007 was attributed to a decrease in the numbers of various livestock animals, including beef cattle, goats, and sheep. Meanwhile, emissions from synthetic fertilizer ranged from 2.1 Tg (1980) to 4.7 Tg (1996), and then declined to 2.8 Tg (2012). Urea and ammonium bicarbonate (ABC) dominated this category of emissions, and a decline in ABC application led to the decrease in emissions that took place from the mid-1990s onwards. High emissions were concentrated in eastern and southwestern China. Seasonally, peak NH3 emissions occurred in spring and summer. The inventories had a monthly temporal resolution and a spatial resolution of 1000 m, and thus are suitable for global and regional air-quality modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design and validation of an electrostatic discharge (ESD)-protected ultra-wideband low-noise amplifier (LNA) is presented in this paper. It features an interstage matching network for gain roll-off compensation to achieve a flat gain over its passband. Evaluated with a chip-on-board approach, the amplifier demonstrates a gain of 11.8 ± 0.3 dB, minimum noise figure of 2.1 dB, and a group delay variation of ±30 ps from 3 to 5 GHz, even though it uses a less advanced 0.35-μm BiCMOS technology. The LNA is protected against human body model ESD stress up to 6.5 kV. The measured input third-order intercept point at 4.5 GHz is -5.5 dBm. The core LNA draws 3 mA from a 3-V supply. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]